BOUND TO TALK: BIRDS OF PREY, MONSOON, WHEN THE LION FEEDS

In this super-sized trilogy, Wilbur Smith traces the impetuous and adventure-loving Courtney dynasty. From their early swashbuckling and philandering in 1667 during the Dutch/English naval war to wealth and sea adventure in the early eighteenth century and finally to life in the wilds of South Africa in the 1870s, the Courtneys insist on unbridled passion, conquest, familial jealousy, and infighting. Rarely will one find such familial venom outside Shakespeare's work or a TV soap opera. Bursting with color, violence, sex, and adventure in far-flung lands, this enthusiastically performed work is not for the squeamish. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 03]